I Tried the Weird Mouth Massage Meghan Markle Swears By

It's come to this: I just had the inside of my mouth massaged because of Meghan Markle. Well, I guess not solely because of her—the opportunity arose to try a version of her favorite facial, and I'll never say no to a massage. So that's how I found myself on a table in a spa a few blocks away from New York's Grand Central Station, with a woman's hands inside my mouth performing the much-discussed buccal massage. And you know what? I'd do it again.

The backstory goes as such: Around the time when the world started caring about Meghan's every move (February), word got out that she was a regular recipient of British facialist Nichola Joss's "inner facial." As she told Birchbox in 2014, "I do facial exercises taught to me by one of my favorite aestheticians, Nichola Joss, who basically has you sculpt your face from the inside out. I swear it works, as silly as you may feel. On the days I do it, my cheekbones and jawline are waaaay more sculpted." The evidence speaks for itself.

The treatment consists of, you guessed it, Joss gloving up and massaging the inside of Markle's mouth, along with the rest of her face. Why would someone ever want that? "Massaging your facial muscles will immediately start working your lymphatic system, which keeps your body clear of toxins and fluids, and improves contours by removing tension and stress in the muscle," Joss recently told us. "Also, it pushes blood with essential nutrients and oxygen into the skin and muscle tissue to nourish and improve cell renewal."

Since a trip to London just for Meghan's face was out of the question, I went to Danna Omari, founder of Noy Skincare and Laser Spa, who is one of the few facialists trained in buccal massage. The effect is like jade rollers amped up a notch, she says, since the massage increases the blood flow to your face—and by exercising those muscles, the effect is like a mini face lift. I'm 25, so while the lifting aspect sounded intriguing, I was more interested in the jawline sculpting. I've gained a little face weight this year, and it's fine, but if the buccal technique could "sculpt" my jaw, awesome.

So I was lying there on the table. The facial started off standard enough with a few rounds of cleansing, masking, and a hot towel wrapped on my face; then Omari began running a set of massage vacuum cups across my face and chest. The pressure wasn't intense, thankfully—so while it did increase blood flow and noticeably pinken up my face, it didn't hurt at all. And it didn't leave behind huge, round bruises on my face as it's known to do during back treatments. Score one, buccal.

The massage vacuum cups.

Rachel Nussbaum

From there, Omari started massaging shea butter into my face with long, careful strokes. She says she learned the technique from facialist Yakov Gershkovich, but it dates back to Jack LaLanne, who ran a public-access exercise channel from the '50s to the '80s. He'd cover exercises for everything, including your face, and Omari says she used to walk in on her mom following along and pulling horrifying faces at the TV. Sound weird? We're now at face gyms and penis facials. This is the future.

The face massage felt incredible and was super relaxing, so by the time Omari put on her latex gloves, I wasn't scared. I also had a dental filling scheduled for later that day, so at the very least, I had faith it would be better than that. It was thorough, this massage of the inside of my cheeks, and it didn't hurt, although the footage is hilarious (you can watch it below).

After what felt like ten minutes, it was over. When I looked in the mirror, my cheekbones were still my cheekbones, and my jawline was squarely where I'd left it. But, I will say this: Even outside of the spa's beautiful lighting, my skin had a soft rosy glow to it, like I'd just applied the perfect amount of Nars' Orgasm blush.

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Bright-eyed and mouth-massaged.

Rachel Nussbaum

Apparently the results get more dramatic the more buccal facials you get, and the before-and-after photos on Noy's Instagram are convincing, especially if you're trying to soften fine lines or alter your jaw, cheek, or jowel area. The treatment is typically $250, so that mouth massage will likely be my last. But even if I wanted to make it a regular thing, it'd be tough. Thanks to the Markle association, Omari says, they're booked for the next five weeks.